2010 Catalog - Middlebury College

Bringing it Back
Every year teachers take what they learn at Bread Loaf back to their classrooms. This past
summer Molly Totoro was inspired by Margo Hendicks’s “Teaching Shakespeare” course at
Asheville. Below is Molly’s description of her classroom experience.
Dear Bread Loaf,
Molly Totoro’s 8th graders doing a staged reading of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
I feel the need to pass along my successes in
the classroom that
are a direct result of
my course taken this
summer in Asheville,
NC.
I teach at a small
private school, so
my course load is
basically 7th, 8th,
9th, and 12th grade
English classes. This
summer in Asheville
I took the “Teaching
Shakespeare” class
and I came back this
year with resolve to
try to implement what
I learned. Since I did
not major in English
as an undergrad,
and the last time I
“studied” Shakespeare was in high school, I have
always felt intimidated and unprepared to teach
the Bard myself.
The 8th grade class has spent all semester slowly
and carefully reading through and acting out
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They will have auditions
on Friday and parts will be set for the allschool
presentation of the play in May. These students
come to class excited to study Shakespeare;
they are disappointed when we have to do other
English assignments; they walk the halls of the
school quoting lines from the play. It has been
awe-inspiring to watch.
33
Two weeks ago I introduced Macbeth to my
British Literature class. I spent two class periods
cajoling them to get out of their comfort zones and
act the parts
“over the top.”
I was initially
met with blank
stares and
rolling eyeballs.
Today
in class, however,
each of
the students
performed Act
II, scene ii of
the play and
the results
were amazing!
Even my most
shy student—
the one who
has not said
one word the
entire semester—delivered
a troubled Macbeth to which we could all relate. It
was heart-warming for this inexperienced teacher
to see such amazing results.
Tonight I was checking my Facebook page and
one of my students mentioned his love of the
class. Since that time, 4 other students have
chimed in how much they love studying Macbeth.
Who would have thought that high school students
in 2009 would actually look forward to coming
to English class to study Shakespeare.
I just wanted you to know what your program has
meant to me—and to my students.